The William Alexander Percy Memorial Library is the home of an exhibit
honoring the rich literary heritage of Greenville. The exhibit includes
books and manuscripts from many Greenville Writers.

Featured Writers

Charles G. Bell

David C. Berry

Betty Werlein Carter

Hodding Carter

Hodding Carter, III

Philip D. Carter

David L. Cohn

Ellen Douglas

Shelby Foote

Brooks Haxton

Angela
Jackson

Bern Keating

Kate Keating

Beverly Lowry

Walker Percy

William Alexander Percy

Jessie Rosenburg
Schell

Caroline Stern

Ben Wasson

“Greenville
would be interesting to study. Greenville, Mississippi has produced more
published writers, for example, than Memphis, Tennessee, which is many
times its size.”

Shelby Foote

“From
the time I was in elementary school, I always knew it was not only
respectable to be a writer, but honorable, desirable. The literary
tradition was strong. Who our next writer would be was always pondered.
Teachers were on the lookout. The effect of this is invaluable.”

Beverly Lowry

“Those looking for answers to the question of why the South has produced
so many writers frequently turn to the example of Greenville, Mississippi,
which boasts (quite literally) a string of writers.”

Charles East

Charles
Bell has said, ”Everybody from Greenville wanted to be a writer.”

“Greenville not only reads books, but with the capacity for the excessive
that seems to flow from its rich earth, is feverishly writing them. It
shelters so many practicing and aspiring writers that sober citizens
wonder who will do the useful work of the community such as baking bread
and repairing cars.”

David Cohn

Bern Keating credits “...a
community tolerant of individuality—almost like a European community.”